Opera: Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi, directed by Hendrik Müller and conducted by Giuseppe Mentuccia

At the heart of the Book Fair's busiest days, Italy Guest of Honour 2024 could hardly fail to dedicate a major event to the magic of opera. In partnership with Teatro Oper, the curtain will rise on Verdi's masterpiece, under the masterful baton of Giuseppe Mentuccia, with a cast of German and Italian artists. 

Building on the extreme colours of Victor Hugo’s original black romance, Le roi s'amuse, Verdi composed an  incredibly tense score and defined it as revolutionary. In his production, director Hendrik Müller is not afraid of strong images and flashy effects, without losing sight of the title character's tragic self-destruction. The work will be in Italian and German with subtitles in English.  

The orchestra's conductor, Mentuccia, has performed at renowned venues such as the Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and the National Academy of Santa Cecilia. He has worked with many conductors, including Daniel Barenboim, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Christian Thielemann and Myung-Whun Chung.